Living Sacrifice – The Hammering Process

Living Sacrifice is probably the most formative band, and the most formative album from that band for my Righteous Metal path would easily be The Hammering Process. This band is brutal and this album places that brutality on full display. From Flatline to Conditional this album embodies what Metal should be. Bruce Fitzhugh’s lyrics are fantastic at highlighting the struggles we all face as humans and how the only answer possible is our salvation in Christ. I still get Born Again’s refrain in my head and it pumps me up every time.

I had a chance to see these guys at a Christian venue while they were touring this album and I’ll never forget hanging outside the venue after the show was over and talking with Rocky Gray about how blown away I was by the intensity that this album blasts and that I’d never heard any Christian music like it and he laughed and said “That’s cuz we’re brutal metal!”